Carm Cozza, Yale hall of fame football coach, dies at 87

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NEW HAVEN — Carm Cozza, whose legendary three-decade career coaching Yale earned him a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame, died Thursday morning after a long illness. He was 87.

Cozza came to Yale in 1963 as an assistant coach and was hired to replace John Pont prior to the 1965 season. Over 32 seasons he won 179 games — more than 100 more than any other coach in Yale’s storied football history.

Ten of Yale’s 15 Ivy League championships came under Cozza. Nine of those titles came between 1967 and 1981, a 14-year span which also produced some of the best contemporary players in school history, a group that includes Calvin Hill, Brian Dowling, Rich Diana, Dick Jauron, Gary Fencik, John Spagnola, John Pagliaro and Kevin Czinger.

Rather than parlay that success into a bigger job and a major program, Cozza chose to stay at Yale, where he could provide stability to raise his family and at a place he’d grown to love. It was the hundreds of friendships and lasting relationships that Cozza most cherished.

“To play for Carm and his assistant coaches was like playing for family,” Pagliaro said in 2015. “He knew how to delegate to his assistant coaches, he knew how to be a leader and he knew how to be a father, a brother and a coach all at the same time. Not many coaches can do that and be effective and win championships.”

Cozza was raised in Parma, Ohio, and became a star athlete at Miami University of Ohio. He played football for coaches Woody Hayes and Ara Parseghian. Teammates included future coaches Bo Schembechler and John Pont.

For a time, Cozza dreamt of playing major league baseball. He spent time in the minor league system of the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians — Rocky Colavito was a teammate in Cedar Rapids — before taking a job as an assistant to Parseghian at Miami of Ohio.

Carmen Cozza on the sideline during his coaching days at Yale.

Carmen Cozza on the sideline during his coaching days at Yale.

Photo: Journal Register Co.

Photo: Journal Register Co.

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Carmen Cozza on the sideline during his coaching days at Yale.

Carmen Cozza on the sideline during his coaching days at Yale.

Photo: Journal Register Co.

Carm Cozza, Yale hall of fame football coach, dies at 87

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When Pont was hired at Yale in 1963, he brought Cozza along as an assistant. The job opened two years later when Pont left for Indiana. Cozza planned to accept an offer as head coach at New Hampshire. Yale Athletic Director Delaney Kiputh asked Cozza to hold off for 24 hours, and offered him the job the next day.

Cozza remained close to Yale football after retiring in 1996. Among his duties was spearheading the fundraising effort to renovate the aging Yale Bowl and serving as radio color commentator for Yale football broadcasts, a position he held until becoming ill last summer.

“Carm was a terrific man,” Jauron told Hearst Connecticut Media in 2015. “A remarkable man. He obviously loved the game of football, but for the right reasons. The team part of it; the human part of it; the relationships part of it; the effort part of it; the determination. All the good things about the game.”

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